Doncaster attack victim repays medics

Alistair Proctor, who is raising money for Neurocare after an unprovoked attack in Doncaster town centre resulted in him needing neuro surgery

Published:10:14Friday 20 February 2015

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A Doncaster dad who had to learn to walk and talk again after being punched in the head has set himself a fundraising mission.

Alistair Proctor was put into an induced coma after he was left lying in a pool of blood in an unprovoked attack in Doncaster town centre.

He had surgery to release the pressure on his brain following the vicious attack in 2010, just two months after the birth of his son, Theo, now four.

Alistair, aged 32, of Town Moor in Doncaster, said: “I can’t remember much about it but I have been told about it since.

“I was out with some friends in Doncaster having a few drinks. I was walking along Silver Street and someone approached me asking for a cigarette.

“I don’t smoke so I didn’t have any and he was being a bit aggressive about it, as if he was looking for trouble.

“He stood in my way and was getting more mouthy and then his friend came and punched me.

“He hit me at the side of the head and knocked me clean out. I went down and split my head open on the ground.”

Alistair, an accountant, was lying on the ground with blood oozing from his head as his friends phoned for an ambulance.

The next thing Alistair can remember is waking up some five days later in intensive care in Sheffield.

“When I woke up, I couldn’t walk or talk,” he said.

“That is something which really sticks in my mind.”

Alistair spent a further two weeks in hospital in Sheffield before he was transferred to St Catherine’s Hospital in Doncaster, where he continued his recovery as both an inpatient and outpatient.

After 18 months, Alistair had more or less fully recovered although the scar on his head remains and his reactions are slower than they used to be.

Now he is planning to tackle the three-day Monte Carlo or Bust rally in a £250 car to raise funds for Neurocare. The money raised by Alistair and his team of 12 friends will be spent on life-saving equipment for use in the neuro wards in Sheffield hospitals.